Throughout this book, we’ve given you adventure hooks, some a bit more obvious than others. Let’s take a moment and look at each one. We’ll talk about the possibilities and all the different directions you can take each one.
Chapter Houses
Each Chapter house is its own adventure hook. In this section, we’ll take a look at each one and give you some ideas on how to use it in your campaign.
Carleon House (Avalon)
In Avalon, everything is bigger than life, even the majestic Queen Elaine. As an amusement, she’s been playing her own knights off against the Order’s Knights, a little game that has built a friendly rivalry between the two.
• The Order Knights discover a plot against the Queen at a party. They try to get close to the Queen to let her know, but her knights won’t let them get within shouting distance; they’re still playing the game. The Knights have to find a way to warn the Queen before it’s too late.
• Jeremiah Berek comes to the Chapter house for help. Celedoine has been captured by the General, who plans to
hang her as soon as he returns to Montaigne. Of course, Berek knows it’s a trap. He needs the Knights to help him free his Lady Celedoine.
• Rachel Milligan wakes one of the Knights in the middle of the night, urging him to remain silent. She leads the Knight down the dark halls of the Chapter house to a tiny broom closet. Within it is one of Elaine’s knights, drunk and unconscious. She says that he has to be back in the Queen’s castle before he’s missed (“by dawn”), and she needs his help to sneak him back in. Of course, she also urges the Hero to demonstrate his great tact and discretion to keep the scene a secret…
Monastery of St. Brigid (Highland Marches)
The body of Rosenkreuz is missing. The secret library has been compromised. But why?
• Perhaps Marcos is sleepwalking. One night, he wandered into the tomb and discovered it empty. He walked back to his bed where his unconscious chewed on the concept. The next night he walked back to the tomb, broke the key, spilled the scales, and threw around the books. On the third night, he went into the library and threw books behind the shelves. Of course, this answers the question of “What happened to the tomb?” but it does not address the more important question: “Why is the tomb empty?”
• A second possibility is that Rosenkreuz has awakened from his slumber for some reason. Perhaps it is to prepare for the Fourth Prophet. Perhaps it is because he knows his Order is in danger and hopes to save them from themselves. • Another possibility is that the tomb has always been
empty. The story of Rosenkreuz’s death is folklore, handed down to those who needed to believe. Perhaps he is still alive, wandering the countryside. Perhaps he is still serving the Order as a Knight… or an Invisible.
The House of the Seven Crosses (Castille)
Are the monks below truly the monks who saved the Knight’s life so long ago? The story is true, but what do the monks want? The monks appear and knock on the door. The Knights send an initiate down to answer it. This is
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clearly a rite of passage for the youth, but what happens when he opens the door?
• The door opens and the monks stand there, waiting. If the initiate asks any questions, they do not answer, only turn away and walk into the mist. They are waiting for someone to invite them back into their home. If the initiate’s first words are “Come in and be welcome” or “Welcome home” or some similar sentiment, they step through the doorway and disappear. From that moment on, the initiate always has at least one Drama Die at the
beginning of each scene.
San Cristobal Library (Castille)
The most important book in the library is, without a doubt, The Book of M. So what happens when…
• The Inquisition has sent a spy into the Order to look at the Library. Someone mentions The Book of M and the
spy steals away with it. Can the Knights retrieve the book before Verdugo gets his hands on it?
• Tired of waiting, Francisco de la Rioja has decided to take the initiative. He tells the Knights to break into Verdugo’s chambers and discover what he knows about the Order.
Casa de Tarago (Castille)
Who was the man that Florenza San Gustavo met? • The man was the ghost of Rosenkreuz. There are dark times ahead, and he hopes to aid his Order by showing them the people that will be important to the Order’s destiny.
• The man was an Invisible hoping to stir emotions of confidence in the Order. Unfortunately, the Heroes discover a secret passage in the chapel and find evidence showing them that the spectral figure was only flesh and blood. Should the Heroes share their discovery (behavior worthy of champions of truth) or keep it to themselves?
Don Juan House (Castille)
Oliver’s handprint is still on the window. No soap or
Chapter house wants to know why. The most intriguing aspect of the event is that Oliver was a Poor Knight, uninitiated in the Vow. How was he able to make it, and why did it leave a permanent mark?
• The Knights are ordered to locate and bring the Invisible College to the Chapter house to observe the phenomenon. The Knights set out on their task, but when they find the College, they also discover that the Inquisition has located their headquarters. They are on the move. They can help the College escape, or they can leave every man for himself. Which do you think the Knights will choose?
• On the anniversary of Oliver’s Vow, his ghostly form appears in the sunlight shining through the window. One or more of the Knights stands watching the event when Oliver’s ghost turns and sees them. “Make your Vow when you can,” he tells a Knight with pressing problems (a lingering Background perhaps). “It’s always later than you
think.” Then, he disappears.
Freiburg House (Eisen)
• The most obvious source of adventures for Freiburg House is its master, Dietrich Proust. Every Knight in the Order wants to prove himself worthy of a Dietrich sword. What will your Knights do to prove themselves?
• Mattias Lieber stayed here for a short period of time and left behind a journal. What would happen if that journal were stolen?
• Alternatively, who would know of it and ask to see it? What would they be willing to do to spend just a few hours in the library perusing its pages? The list is substantial, if not endless.
The Shackles and Chains (Montaigne)
A connection through the sewers to the Montaigne dungeons is a whole tackle box of adventure hooks. • Prison breaks are the easy answer. Pick a nation, pick a relative, and pick a crime: instant adventure. Of course, breaking said relative out of prison is the easy part. Getting
him through Montaigne into Avalon/Castille/Eisen is the hard part. Which leads us to another possibility…
• Someone (pick a Background, any Background) wants to set the Knights up. He frames someone close to the Order, knowing they will break him out of the prison; they break everyone else out, after all. Then said enemy sets up an ambush outside the prison walls to catch the Knights in the
act. Now, not only do they have to go back through the
prison to the secret entrance, but they have to carry a starving, dehydrated, tortured, and exhausted friend with them.
Bellamy House (Montaigne)
What do the Tyros see at midnight on the anniversary of the betrayal?
• Fire. Knights screaming as their blood boils under their skin, blistering and peeling. As they sit and watch the horrible sight, the Domini tells them, “This was the betrayal. This is what they did. Not because we were evil or wicked, but because they wanted money.” The Domini forces the Tyro’s eyes open. “Remember this. This is what they will do to you. This is our fate if we are not united and strong.”
• The ghosts of the fallen Knights step forward through the darkness, each of them whispering the same words over and over again. “You won’t live forever, so live a life that will never be forgotten.”
• Through a hazy mist, the Tyro witnesses his own death. If he asks, “Is this true?” his Domini shakes his head. “It is now. Tomorrow, it may not be.”
• After viewing the painful death of the Knights, the Tyro is approached by one of them. The Knight tells him, “I know the future and can answer one question. Ask now.” There are many ways to handle this scenario; here are two. First, the Knight truthfully answers any question the Tyro asks. Second, the question is a test. If the Tyro asks a question, the Knights shakes his head and disappears. If the Tyro replies with an answer remembering the sentiment
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“No man is free to make his own destiny,” the Knight smiles, nods, and informs the Tyro that he has passed the test.
Forty-Second Street House (Montaigne)
“Okay,” you ask. “What’s in the cage?” Well, let’s open it up and take a look.
• First, not knowing what’s in the cage is ten thousand times
more horrible than knowing. Your players’ imaginations will summon beasties in their own heads so awful, any description you give them will pale in comparison. However, there are ways to suggest what’s in there. Use
conflicting terms. Notice that on some days the thing “squirms and oozes and screams”, while on other days it “howls and rakes its claws against the bars.” Does that sound like two different beasts to you? The more contradictions you give, the more awful it becomes.
• Faith d’Arrent has a wound from the creature that bleeds every full moon. Not only that, she suffers from severe nightmares that involve teeth and tentacles, drowning and being eaten alive. She’s a shell of a woman, almost broken by the thing in the basement. What Knight wouldn’t do anything he could to save her from her torment? Obviously, the Knights must go to its home (the Montaigne sewers) and discover the origin of the thing. Perhaps there’s an antidote. Or perhaps they have to kill the creature in order to cure her. There may even be more of them down in the sewers; who knows how many helpless Montaignes these things have fed on over the years?
• The creature cannot be killed by mundane means. If it gets out of the cage, consider every attack it makes to be 7k7. That’s for To Hit rolls, Wound rolls, etc. The thing
cannot be harmed by the Knights in any mundane way. And
may Theus help them if they decide to throw it into a Portal…
Crieux House (Montaigne)
• Someone has broken into the Crieux House and stolen records! Well, not really. But in order to maintain the illusion that is the Chapter house’s main function, the Order must send someone to recover the documents. To make it a convincing pursuit, why not use some young Knights who don’t know that it is less than critical?
• L’Empereur is getting to be a bit of a pompous ass and
demands that that his good friend the Grand Master have a proper honor guard at all his parties. Aristide has better things for his Knights to be doing, but it could be a good opportunity for visiting Poor Knights to learn the ways of the court… at least until a permanent guard can be arranged.
• Enemies of the Order have fixated on The Quill as a
weakness to be exploited. After stealing all the work for the next month’s worth of sheets, the Villains set fire to the press. The Knights must put out the fire, save the notes, and bring justice to the unjust. All in a day’s work.
The Dungeon (Montaigne)
• The rivalry between the Knights and the musketeers turns ugly. Four members of the Lightning Guard challenge high- ranking members of Sprague’s school to duels. The Knights need to sweep the gathering crowd, watching for treachery and crossbows.
House of Nine Keys
• Even the Rose and Cross has to face some of Montaigne’s more mundane dangers. A ranking Knight has been pickpocketed by a pro. Among the filched items is one of the house’s nine keys. Time to turn the city’s underbelly upside down!
• Paix is also home to the many ambassadors to L’Empereur’s court. The most exotic of them is an Ussuran boyar, who has come to trade. The customs and social pitfalls have driven him into such a rage that he has persuaded every bird in the compound to target his hosts and fellow guests with droppings. The situation is coming apart, and thanks to typical Ussuran secrecy about their magic, no one even knows why the birds are misbehaving.
1st and 5th House (Vendel)
• A Wandering Knight has gone missing. Has he fled with the secrets of the order, wooed by Vendel wealth, or is he in desperate trouble?
• The Senior Knights in Vendel know that they have been exposed to Vendel intrigue, but there are others who would use the weakness of the house to discover the Rose and Cross secrets. Insert a very clever non-Vendel infiltrator to
take advantage of the Knights’ distraction.
• The Vestenmannavnjar are determined to drive off the Vendel’s “allies.” A Lærdom master has set up shop nearby and showers the house with hard weather and occasional lightning!
Lucani (Vodacce)
• In finest Vodacce tradition, if you can’t pull the threads, poison them. Slowly. The Master Knight has been poisoned
and only the merchant princes have the antidote. Can the Knights somehow acquire the elixir before it’s too late? • A Vodacce church scholar (with no ties to the Inquisition) discovers the connection between the Order and the Poor Knights. This information could destroy the Order if it makes it into Verdugo’s hands. There are too few Invisibles in Vodacce to act in time. Someone else may have to commit the order’s greatest sin: silencing an innocent scholar.